Prince George's County school and MSDE partners highlight pre‑K expansion seats and mixed‑delivery opportunities

Andrea Searcy, director of early learning for Prince George's County Public Schools, described the county's mixed‑delivery approach to pre‑K expansion, noting seats within the school system and partnerships with private providers to reach eligible 3‑ and 4‑year‑olds.

Searcy said the partnership currently supports about "4 60 seats" (interpreted in transcript as roughly 460) and that there are about 500 seats with private providers; she recommended expanding provider participation to meet the county's blueprint goal of a 50/50 split between public schools and private providers. Members discussed operational hurdles such as coordinating class hours, after‑school care and transportation so subsidized pre‑K seats are usable for working parents.

The group also discussed supplemental enrollment windows and partnerships that let child care providers pick up school‑age children for after‑school care and transport them to centers—a model some providers already use, though it carries extra transportation costs parents must sometimes cover.